1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat-transfer techniques. More specifically, the present invention relates to solid-state cooling components that reduce surface temperatures in computer systems.
2. Related Art
The computational performance provided by electronic devices has increased significantly in recent years. This has resulted in increased power consumption and associated heat generation in these devices. Consequently, it has become a considerable challenge to manage this thermal load to maintain acceptable internal and external operating temperatures for these devices.
Portable devices, such as laptop computers (notebook PCs), cellular telephones, and personal digital assistants pose additional design constraints. In particular, size and weight limitations in such devices can make it difficult to achieve desired operational temperatures. For example, many laptop computers utilize cooling systems that include fans to pump heat out of the laptop computer. Unfortunately, hot spots can still occur on a bottom surface of these laptop computers. Such hot spots are easily noticed by consumers and are annoying because they often may make it difficult to use the devices. For example, a consumer may be forced to position a laptop computer to avoid a hot spot. However, it may be more difficult to use the computer in such positions.
Hence what is needed are computer systems that overcome the problems listed above.